Possible concern that SS not allowed due to G&T status?

[Triggles]

Okay. This was prompted by a comment by the senco at our local jr school, as I went today to look. We've pretty much decided on the SS for DS2, hopefully starting in September. The jr school senco said "I'm not sure if he will qualify for the SS when he is advanced in math and reading" (although he can read well, his comprehension is poor).

The SS told us that generally the LA is okay with a child going from MS to SS if he has the support/agreement of his current school and his medical professional (such as paed). We would easily have this support.

Obviously, while he is advanced right now, he is in Yr1. The math and reading get more complex over the next few years, and once he starts to struggle and fall behind (due to obvious comprehension problems), I rather suspect that he will continue to spiral downward due to increased frustration. I worry that once he starts the downward trend, it will be very difficult to turn things around.

He has shown already that he works better in 1:1 or in smaller groups. My thinking is that this SS is the ideal situation for him to maintain and continue his academic progress (as well as social progress, as he is quite far behind socially) as they have smaller classes with the learning set up in a manner that is far more suitable to his needs.

So... is this a realistic concern in general? If so, what are the best ways to counter this?

I wouldn't worry about this tbh just on the word of an MS senco, I would talk to the SS you are thinking of sending him too about it. I'ld have thought the obvious argument against that would be that he needs the SS type environment to be able to access the curriculum or that there are H & S type grounds he needs to be at SS (e.g if he is a "runner").Also sometimes SS, particularly if they are co-located with MS can rrange for a child to go over to the MS with a 1-1 for a specific lesson/event.

yes, he is absolutely a runner, so security is an issue.

I honestly just didn't think that being advanced at some subjects in Yr1 would be an issue. I was just worried as she mentioned it, whereas the SS didn't seem to think it was an issue at all.

My DS2 was advanced in Maths and reading in infants. He's still pretty good at Maths but as soon at literacy became more about imagination, inference, prediction and comprehension rather than spelling and punctuation, his difficulties became much more pronounced. Don't worry about the SENCo at MS juniors, she will have had much less experience than the SS with SN. She may have experience with SEN, but your DS will be out of her comfort zone!

Not to say that getting a place in SS is guaranteed, but with 25? hours on his statement, it hopefully will be pretty straightforward.

we have always been told dd2 needs to be in ms because of her academic ability. she had a split ms/ss placement for nursery and was statemented for 1-1 from yr r in ms.

if you are in ms, and it is not working, then there should be no real problem with ss placement, but i would check with the ss about the their general demographics. if it is a school with a high percentage of sld children, they may not have the resources to get ds to meet his academic potential. but it's pros and cons. if you need the security of ss for other reasons, you can work on the academic side with them if it becomes problematic.

there are ss with some great academic results. there just aren't many. it may be that later you need to look again to see if ms would be better at some point. if he needs ss now, then go for it. nothing is set in stone.

"as soon at literacy became more about imagination, inference, prediction and comprehension rather than spelling and punctuation, his difficulties became much more pronounced."

EllenJane this is it exactly. This is one of my biggest concerns about staying where he is. They are doing brilliantly with him, however, he is being taken into a quiet area often during the day, and it's just not horribly inclusive in that manner. He also can't join in any clubs, which he can do at the SS, which I think is good for him. (The senco today at jr school asked me "what exactly do you expect him to get out of, say, football club?"... ... I said "exactly what OTHER children get out of it... physical activity for fitness, learning to work as a team with other children, good sportsmanship.." I was a bit puzzled by the question tbh)

And yes, 20+5 hours on his statement. We've been told it'll be difficult getting 30 hours, even though he needs literally FT 1:1, and I don't think this school would cover the extra runover hours like his current school does.

outofbody the SS we're looking at has good academic programmes. When we spoke to them, we were very pleased with the school itself. The jr school, however, has only 1 other child dx with SNs, and some of the things the senco mentioned were either a-a bit unrealistic or b-really not something I'd be happy with as a measure.

So the firm decision on our part has been made. We're going to ask for the SS.

My son is at SS..has been since he was 4. He is at an SLD school but over the years has shown he has some higher level skills (I'd say he was moderate LDs as well as his ASD) He has particular ability in maths.. and so school have arranged for him to integrate into mainstream (we share grounds) for maths..he goes with his TA. He also attend their own MLD unit for english and some other bits and bobs. It has worked very well as he has the support he needs at SS and the stretching he can handle in MS.. so it can be done:):)

medusa thank you. The SS here shares grounds with a MS as well, and I've been told they do this as well. So that's promising.

We were turned down a place for dd2 (ASD) because she was advanced in maths and english, at the time she was non-verbal and had severe sensory issues, i was devistated that we could not get her a place and considered home schooling, in the end she went to the ms school with a good statement (full time TA) and i have to say 'she has proved me wrong', she's now verbal and we are working on the sensory issues which are improving, she's now in year 1, i know she may now make it through to high school in MS but so far she is doing great.

I think the case with our ss is the fact they only take 6 children each year into reception and year 1 so places are very limited and are given to the children that will deffently not cope in ms, our LEA seem to want most sn children to try ms before considering sn school. Each LEA is different and each school is different.

Well, I spoke to our senco at the infant school today. She said that our LA most likely won't have any issue with his academic level. She's going to do some checking and verify if there will be any obstacles.

LEA... cant type today

No, LA, you were right first time. LEA was the old name for it before it was supposed to go all multi-agency like.

ah, so much confusion.. I do seem to hear it both ways all the time .. wasn't sure what the current correct one was.